Wrinkling of a Fiber-Reinforced Membrane

In this paper we investigate the response of fiber-reinforced cylindrical membranes subject to axisymmetric deformations. The membrane is considered as an incompressible material, and the phenomenon of wrinkling is taken into account by means of the relaxed energy function. Two cases are considered: transversely isotropic membranes, characterized by one family of fibers oriented in one direction, and orthotropic membranes, characterized by two family of fibers oriented in orthogonal directions. The strain-energy function is considered as the sum of two terms: The first term is associated with the isotropic properties of the base material, and the second term is used to introduce transverse isotropy or orthotropy in the mechanical response. We determine the mechanical response of the membrane as a function of fiber orientations for given boundary conditions. The objective is to find possible fiber orientations that make the membrane as stiff as possible for the given boundary conditions. Specifically, it is shown that for transversely isotropic membranes a unique fiber orientation exists, which does not affect the mechanical response, i.e., the overall behavior is identical to a nonreinforced membrane.